Spring Into Action with Heifer International

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (March 12, 2012) - Heifer International’s corps of Community Volunteer Coordinators will “Spring into Action” on Saturday, March 24, in the organization’s first ever multi-venue volunteer recruiting and engagement blowout. The events, in more than a dozen separate cities, will provide a fun introduction to those curious about Heifer International and a refresh for those who have been longtime advocates.

“The goal is to get people to join our ‘moovement’, to join in our international call of action and transformation,” said Pat Keay, National Community Volunteer Manager.

“This is a chance to show people how they can help change someone’s life at their church, their synagogue or temple, their school, their workplace, their civic club—anywhere and everywhere they engage with people.”

Participants will learn more about Heifer International’s work in the United States and elsewhere, and about how the gift of an animal, seeds, bees and training really can be a catalyst for change. They will learn about how a goat is an asset, a savings account, for a family in Thailand. How they can use the milk the goat provides to feed their children, or sell the extra or use it to make yogurt for sale. Or chicks produce eggs for protein or sale, or wool from sheep for warm clothing or for sale.

They will learn that giving an animal is like starting a small business.  That, along with training in better agriculture, produces better and higher yields of crops and propels them from poverty to prosperity. They will learn, too, of the sharing that happens when the family gives the first-born offspring of their animal to another family, what Heifer International calls Passing on the Gift, and how one small business creates two, creates four and so on until an entire community is fed and sustainable.

“The work we do is life-changing, but we believe this will be, too,” said Keay. When people get to see our work up close and personal, they get to see the difference their time, their gift makes. They get inspired and they ‘spring into action,’ adding more hands, and more importantly, more hearts to the effort to end hunger and poverty and protect the planet.”

Events will be held in 17 locations including Little Rock, Ark., Los Angeles and Sonoma Calif., Waterford, Conn., Atlanta, Ga, Lombard, Ill., Rockland and Westbrook, Maine, Northampton, Watertown, Townsend, Mass., Kansas City, Mo., Meriden, N.H., Manhasset and Snyder, N.Y., Arlington, Va., Seattle, Wash.  For more information or to RSVP e-mail volunteer@heifer.org or call (877) 2HUNGER - or (877) 248-6437.

Heifer’s mission is to end hunger and poverty while caring for the Earth. Since 1944, Heifer International has provided livestock and environmentally sound agricultural training to improve the lives of those who struggle daily for reliable sources of food and income. Heifer is currently working in 40 countries, including the United States, to help families and communities become more self-reliant. For more information visit www.heifer.org.

For more information, visit or call (800) 696-1918.